Transport committee  For example, we've given buses to places like Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, to start their transit service. Because HRM is so big, over the last 10 to 20 years the fare-box contribution to transit has gone from being two-thirds paid by customers to about a third or 40%. Part of it is

Transport committee  A couple of the councillors in your area, Councillor Streatch and Councillor Hendsbee, have been on this for some time. We're certainly prepared to be part of that. I would encourage people to recognize that.... This is why I put this in my presentation. People think of Halifax

Transport committee  Yes. As you know, that's something that's been discussed at council a lot. Initially, we had hoped that it might be part of the new high school that we're contributing to. We're certainly prepared to talk. Tom McInnis is a very strong senator and a very strong advocate for Shee

Transport committee  Perhaps you could tell him that as we're talking I'm checking his property tax to make sure that it's been paid.

Transport committee  Yes. In getting caught up, I mentioned that in Halifax, we have an integrated resource plan of $2.6 billion. Of the $2.6 billion, $600 million is for the CCME guidelines, which are forced upon us by the feds, which we understand and support; $700 million is the catch-up on work t

Transport committee  It certainly depends on the project. As a city, we're trying to expand our mandate, but there are certain things we have a responsibility for and certain things that we don't. I think that since amalgamation there have been a lot of improvements, I would say, in services to rura

Transport committee  For us, a large part of it is to find a way to get the traffic that comes into the port to the rails without having to go on trucks. An inland terminal, for example, is a possibility we're looking at, which I think is good for a whole bunch of different areas: environmentally, fr

Transport committee  Thank you. Mr. Chong, it is nice to see you again. I enjoyed being on committee with you before. First of all, on commuting times, I think there's a simple answer. People from Toronto should move to Halifax. I think that would be good for everybody. There are some major proje

Transport committee  Madam Chair, I see committees haven't changed much since I was in Ottawa, which is good. I think it's very important. You mentioned the port of Halifax. The port of Halifax has been on a growth trajectory the last few years. Investing in the port is important to us so that we ca

Transport committee  Madam Chair and committee members, it's a great pleasure to be here to share a little bit about Halifax and talk about what infrastructure funding means to our municipality. Halifax is well known as the urban centre of Atlantic Canada. What people sometimes forget is that we're

International Trade committee  I don't know that we've heard an awful lot from stakeholders. That's why it's important that this committee is here. The people I talk to on the business side are generally very supportive of this. There are concerns, because we don't have all of the details worked out yet. But I

International Trade committee  Then I'll take the five seconds to thank the committee for coming to Halifax. I encourage you, your staff, the hardworking interpreters, and everybody else to spend a fair bit of federal money while you're down here.

International Trade committee  We see great potential in the trade deal. First of all, we see more trade for local businesses, particularly on the seafood side. We think there's great potential there. We think our major projects will be enhanced by the free trade deal. We think the overall economic impact of o

International Trade committee  We're going to leave you with our presentation. We only have it in one official language, but we've given it to the clerk for distribution. The work we've done as municipalities has largely been done through FCM and also the Big City Mayors' Caucus, which is the appropriate way

International Trade committee  The infrastructure is very important. In the same way that the federal government was very involved in the infrastructure on the Pacific gateway, there are infrastructure requirements on the eastern seaboard as well. We have a relationship with CN Rail that's very important to u